Jonvic Remulla says willing to 'kneel' before Interpol to get red notice for Zaldy Co

MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said Friday, May 8, the government is still waiting for Interpol to grant the red notice requested against fugitive lawmaker Zaldy Co, which he called the "only hope" of bringing him back to the Philippines.

"We applied for the red notice in September 2025. Interpol in France hasn't granted the red notice up to now," Remulla said in mixed English and Filipino at a public forum.

"If I could just kneel in front of Interpol to get the red notice, I would do it," Remulla added.

The DILG secretary said he believes the cause of the delay by Interpol — whose headquarters is based in France — is the political nature of the request. 

"It turns out the law in the Philippines is different from Interpol in France. As long as there's a bit of political inkling there, they'll delay it," he said in mixed English and Filipino.

"The red notice is the only hope we have set for the only hope we have," the DILG chief added. "I'm confident we'll get it." 

Remulla shared that he had spoken with the vice president of Interpol. 

The justice department follows up weekly, he said, and Interpol has told the Philippines it is still reviewing the matter.

"We're trying our best. They're reviewing the matter, they say. Every week we have correspondence asking for development," Remulla said.

Co's recent asylum bid in France 

Co only filed a petition for political asylum in France last week, Remulla said. He stressed that this had nothing to do with the red notice delay since the Interpol application was filed half a year earlier.

"You have to ask Interpol [why it is taking long]. I wouldn't know. I really don't know," he said.

Under the European Union's asylum rules, Remulla said, an applicant can file in only one country. He compared Co's case to that of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, who applied for asylum in Vienna and cannot reapply elsewhere.

Roque's six-month asylum period officially ends this week, Remulla added. 

"So we will know by today whether it has been granted or not. If not granted, he can be expelled there because he no longer has travel papers," Remulla said in mixed English and Filipino. Roque faces human trafficking charges in the Philippines.

Co has been wanted for arrest since Nov. 21, 2025, when the Sandiganbayan issued arrest warrants against him and 17 others over an allegedly anomalous P289.5-million road dike project along the Mag-asawang Tubig River in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.  

Co flew to the United States in July 2025, citing medical treatment, and departed New York in September of the same year. The Sandiganbayan declared him a fugitive after he refused to submit to the court's jurisdiction.

The fugitive former lawmaker was intercepted April 16, 2026, at the German border after crossing in from the Czech Republic with invalid documents. He was held for 36 hours, taken to Prague, and released after about 72 hours following court proceedings on an immigration violation. 

He has since surfaced in France, where Remulla alleged Friday that Co is staying in a 10-bedroom mansion on the Champs-Élysées worth an estimated 200 million euros. — Cristina Chi